‘We believe that art helps young people dream for a better future’

Translation of Vikram Seth poem by Fahmida Riaz forms basis of Tehrik-e-Niswan play performed at Karachi Arts Council.

KARACHI: A translation of a Vikram Seth poem by the formidable poet Fahmida Riaz formed the basis of a Tehrik-e-Niswan play was performed at the Karachi Arts Council this week.

The poem, titled The Elephant and the Tragopan, has been used by the theatre group for their production Jungle Jungle Zindabad.

Jungle Jungle Zindabad tells the story of animals who live in a forest. One day an official called Number Ek (Mehmood Bhatti) arrives with the intention of building a bund, destroying the peace of the animals and threatening to cage them in a nearby zoo if they don’t abide by the law. This propels the animals to raise their voices against the official and his plans.

The play featured smart one-liners uttered by Peacock (Mohsin Khan) and Parrot (Uzma Mazhar), who try to instil sense in the rest of the animals with their thought-provoking dialogues.

Veteran performer Sheema Kermani enacted the role of ‘Aam Insaan’. Her poetic monologue was complemented by a Rajhastani-Thari dance to live music. The musicians contributing to the production included Daniel Wilayat (harmonium), Zulfiqar Ali (percussion) and Sudhir (flute).

Kermani told The Express Tribune, “Environment is a social issue and a concern and so we thought we should have a play on this. We have done plays in the past which significantly highlighted social issues.  We believe that art helps young people dream for a better future for humankind, makes them sensitive to ‘the others’, to our environment and to our heritage. Theatre helps us keep the hope alive, to enjoy and appreciate others, to judge, to understand and to come together,” she added.

While talking about the plot and theme of the play, Kermani said, “The play deals with issues such as deforestation, damming of rivers, distribution of water and pollution. It also suggests that collective action reaps positive results and that an ordinary citizen is the fighting force.”

The play is a musical comedy in verse, with colourful sets, masks, costumes, dance, live music and musicians.

Kermani says the target audience for the play is the youth. “Time and again in history it has been proved that the youth are the vehicles of change in every society across the globe. Keeping this in view, Tehrik-e-Niswan is bringing a theatre play for people of all ages, especially the youth with our new production, Jungle Jungle Zindabad.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2010.